Wired News on August 12 & 13, 1995

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on August 12 & 13, 1995
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Thai Fishing Crew Threw Burmese Off Boats-Paper
RANGOON, Aug 12 (Reuter) - Thai fishermen, angry over a ban on fishing
in Burmese waters, attacked and murdered at least two Burmese crewmen working
on their boats, a state-run Burmese newspaper reported on Saturday.
A Burmese rescue team had recovered two bodies, their hands tied behind
their backs, and was searching for 24 other Burmese crewmen listed as
missing, the New Light of Myanmar reported.
After their licence to fish in Burmese waters was revoked earlier this
month, Thai crew from three boats beat several Burmese crewmen and threw them
overboard while other Burmese jumped off the boats to escape, the paper said.
The Thai crew had also bullied the Burmese and forced them to work ``by
giving them stimulants without let up for sleep and rest,'' the paper added.
Burmese authorities cancelled a joint-venture agreement for boats of a
Thai company on August 3 for various reasons including the use of illegal
nets and the smuggling of their catches to Thailand, the paper said.
Marine police in southern Thailand said they were not aware of any such
incident involving the three boats.
Many of the Thai fishing boats operating out of ports on southern
Thailand's Andaman Sea coast employ crewmen from nearby southern Burma.
Reut05:13 08-12-95
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Burma launches new attack on opium king Khun Sa
BANGKOK, Aug 13 (Reuter) - Burmese government troops, joined by Wa
ethnic minority fighters, have launched fresh attacks on rebel Shan opium
warlord Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army (MTA) in the Golden Triangle area, a senior
MTA source said on Sunday.
``The fighting is going on and we are concerned because the Burmese
troops have been joined by the Wa fighters,'' the MTA source told Reuters by
telephone.
About 1,000 Burmese army and United Wa State Army troops were sent four
days ago to reinforce other forces who have been attacking MTA strongholds
near the Thai border since July 19, the source added.
Casualty figures were not immediately available, the source said.
Confirmation of the new attacks by Burma's military rulers, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council in Rangoon, was also not available.
The Wa, fighting for their own state east of the Salween River within
Shan state, agreed to a truce with Burma's military rulers in 1989.
The group engaged in frequent skirmishes with Khun Sa's MTA over control
of opium trafficking routes in the Shan state until 1992 when an informal
ceasefire with the MTA was declared.
The half-Shan, half-Chinese Khun Sa, 61, commands an 8,000-strong MTA
guerrilla force. He is the most prominent drug trafficker in the Golden
Triangle where the borders of Burma, Thailand and Laos meet.
He has confined himself to his jungle headquarters near the Thai border
since 1990 when a U.S. court indicted him on drug trafficking charges.
Reut06:01 08-13-95
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